Eight O'clock
by Alfred Edward Housman — a poem card from Justes Mots
A stark depiction of an execution at eight o'clock, told through the condemned man's final moments as the church bells strike. The poem's brief, punchy lines mirror the finality of the clock's stroke. Appropriate for exploring themes of death and the inexorable passage of time.
He stood, and heard the steeple
Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town.
One, two, three, four, to market-place and people
It tossed them down.
Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour,
He stood and counted them and cursed his luck;
And then the clock collected in the tower…